The Israeli Supreme Court set a precedent on Tuesday ruling that an
Ottoman law, under which settlers could get custody of agricultural
land by showing they had been farming it for a decade or longer, was
not enough to grant ownership of the land.

The case in question involved a petition against Michael Lessens, a
resident of the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, who had been working
a plot of land close to the settlement. The head of the Civil
Administration issued an order stating he had illegally taken
possession of the land and evicting him from it.

Lessens petitioned the Military Appeals Committee to overturn the
order, explaining that under the law in place, since he had been
working the land for over ten years, he legally owns it. The
committee accepted his petition and over turned the civil
administration’s order.

In response to the committee’s decision, the Palestinian owners of
the land, assisted by Yesh Din, petitioned the Supreme Court to
overturn the committee’s decision. They were later joined in the
petition by the State Prosecutor’s Office.

On Tuesday, Dorit Beinish, former president of the Supreme Court,
issued her decision in the case, supported by judges Miriam Naor and
Edna Arbel, accepting the plaintiffs’ appeal. According to the court
ruling it is not enough to invade land and hold it for over ten
years - the land needs to be “honestly taken.”